History of D200 & the class 40 Locomotive

Information Source Wikipedia & Simon Thomas

​The British Rail Class 40 is a type of British railway diesel locomotive. Built by English Electric between 1958 and 1962, and eventually numbering 200, they were for a time the pride of the British Rail early diesel fleet. Despite their initial success, by the time the last examples were entering service they were already being replaced on some top-link duties by more powerful locomotives. As they were slowly relegated from express passenger uses, the type found work on secondary passenger and freight services where they worked for many years, the final locomotives being retired from regular service in 1985.

Modernisation PlanIn the late 1940’s the London, Midland & Scottish Railway made an announcement that it intended to operate main line passenger services using diesel traction in the form of two 1600 horse power locomotives with a top speed of 100mph, which would be capable of hauling the railway company’s long distant express services. The LMS signed an agreement with the English Electric Company to build two such locomotives at the main LMS works in Derby. All mechanical parts of the locomotives were designed and manufactured by the LMS with English Electric supplying the electrical equipment and diesel power unit in the form of a 1600hp 16 cylinder SVT engine from their Factory in Rugby. Locomotive D16/1,LMS 10000 was unveiled at Derby Works in early December 1947 and was later displayed in London Euston making a demonstration journey to Watford later that same month. The second locomotive LMS 10001 was delivered the following year in July 1948.

During March 1953 after several years of working various services and routes of the now London Midland Region of the newly formed British Railways, both locomotives were transferred to the Southern Region so they could be compared with the Southern Regions O.V.S Bulleid designed D16/2 locomotives 10201 and 10202 which had been introduced between 1950 and 1951 and again powered by an English Electric 16 cylinder SVT power units, although the power unit in 10201 was slightly more powerful, being rated at 1750hp opposed to the power unit in 10202 rated to that of 10000/10001 of 1600hp. March 1954 saw the introduction of a third Bulleid locomotive which similar to its older sisters having the 1Co-Co1 wheel arrangement this locomotive had a modified power unit rated at 2000hp. This locomotives power train and bogie design were used virtually unchanged for the design of the English Electric Company’s 16 cylinder SVT MkII Type 4 locomotive.​In December 1954 the British Transport Commission published a report formally known as ‘Modernisation and Re-equipment of British Railways’ which outlined how British Railways could be modernised with equipment designed to deliver a reliable and speedy transport service to the country. The estimated cost of this modernisation plan would be £1,200 Million. The major objectives of the plan were to improve track and signalling assets to allow higher speeds over trunk routes and to provide better utilisation of those assets. Steam traction to be replaced as a form of motive power by electric or diesel traction by introducing at least 2,500 locomotives and the majority of steam hauled passenger rolling stock be replaced by diesel and electric multiple units.

In January 1955 the Chairman of the British transport Commission, Sir Brian Robertson announced the plans to complete the modernisation of the railway network with backing of the Government. Before making any final decisions on the delivery of the 2,500 locomotives that were needed to replace the Steam fleet, a pilot scheme of around 170 locomotives was to be introduced to allow assessment of their performance and suitability. Several different Locomotive builders were chosen to supply these pilot scheme locomotives, one of which had been the English Electric company whom had gained experience with the LMS D16/1 and SR D16/2 Locomotives.

​The £1,200 Million price tag placed of this plan was to be spread over 15 years, the eventual cost of modernisation plan reached over £1,600 Million. By May 1957 around 230 Locomotives had been ordered but as yet not a single example had been delivered! However just one month later in June 1957, English Electric delivered from there Company works at Vulcan Foundry there first Type 1 Locomotive fitted with an 8 cylinder SVT MkII 1000 hp power unit. English Electric had a design of Locomotive that fulfilled all 5 types that had been categorised in the modernisation plan and in March 1958 the first EE Type 4 fitted with a 16 Cylinder SVT MkII locomotive was delivered to British Railways for acceptance trails. It’s running number – D200.

The Pioneer –D200After just over a month of trials on test trains, Light engine movements and crew training runs, D200 was tasked with hauling its first revenue earning passenger train on the 18th April 1958 which was the 1027 London Liverpool Street to Norwich. Fitted to the leading cab of the locomotive was a large headboard, painted the same colour as the locomotive pronouncing that this was the ‘FIRST 2000hp Diesel, London – Norwich, Progress by GREAT EASTERN. D200 later returned that same day with the 1455 Norwich – London Liverpool Street service.British Railways initially ordered Ten EE Type 4’s these being delivered over the coming months of 1958 with the last of the original ten locomotives being delivered by September 1958. However by late 1958 a decision was made to accelerate the plan and large orders for locomotives had been placed which basically abandoned the pilot scheme and led to an order of a further 190 EE Type 4’s with the final locomotive D399 being delivered by September 1962.

The first few years of D200 service saw her working services on the Eastern Region out of Liverpool Street and Kings Cross alongside her nine other sisters. Although it was noted that she spent a length of time in Crewe Works and Doncaster Works on repair between October 1962 and December 1962. The Locomotive was noted at Crewe Work in Early February 1969 having had its ‘D’ prefix removed. On 10th May 1970 200 emerged from Crewe Works having been painted in the new British Rail Corporate Rail blue. From late in 1973 British Rail introduced the New TOPS computer system for allocation and recording maintenance of Locomotives. The EE Type 4’s were give the classification of Class 40 and 200 was renumbered as 40122 which filed a gap in the number sequence after D322 was involved in a collision running into a divided freight train between Norton Level Crossing and Acton Grange Junction at 2358 hours on the May 1966 which had run back towards Norton after the handbrake applied by the guard for the freight had failed to halt the momentum on the runaway. 40122 was noted light engine at Preston Station 26th May 1974. She was stored unserviceable at Carlisle Kingmoor Depot 8th August 1981 and withdrawn from BR stock on 25th August 1981 where she stayed to wait her fate.

After a campaign by staff at RAIL Enthusiast magazine began to lobby British Rail to save 40122 and began a fund to save her. On 20th April 1983 40122 was marshalled at the front of a freight service bound for Tyne Yard and was hauled by 37083, seemingly the campaign to restore this historic locomotive had succeeded within British Rail and four days later on 24th April 1983 40122 was reinstated while enroute to Crewe Works, arriving there three days later on the 27th April. 40122 was then moved to Crewe TMD on the 6thMayand on the 11th May she was transferred to Toton TMD along with withdrawn sister locomotive 40076 which had been chosen to donate its power unit to allow 40122 to be returned to service. After almost 2 years after being withdrawn 40122 departed Toton Depot freshly painted Brunswick Green and carrying her original running number of D200 and her TOPS number 40122, as she travelled light engine to Finsbury Park in readiness to work her first railtour which was called the ‘Hadrian Pullman’from London Kings Cross to Carlisle via the Settle and Carlisle line. D200 would now take over as a Railtour favourite as several months earlier on18th April Sister locomotive 40106 which had also been kept painted in green livery had been withdrawn form service.

D200 had been returned to her last allocated depot of Carlisle Kingmoor where she when to not been selected for charter and railtour work, she would earn keep hauling the 1040 Carlisle – Leeds and 1600 Leeds – Carlisle return service. With the exception of D200 the last Class 40 hauled revenue passenger service fell to the honour of 40012 ‘Aureol’ which worked 1E08 1616 Birmingham New Street – York on the 27th January 1985 and all remaining Class 40’s were withdrawn from BR service leaving D200 to soldier on. For the next three years D200 was utilised to operate numerous Railtours around the BR network, being a favourite of ‘Traintours’ which took D200 to places like Penzance, London Paddington, London Waterloo to name just a few destinations. D200 was also a favourite for being displayed at Depot open days.​The final curtain was drawn on the historic Locomotive on 16th April 1988 after 30 years nearly to the day of British Rail service she worked her final rail tour from London Liverpool Street where she had started her revenue earning career D200 was fitted with a replica head board similar to her first working but this time it stated ‘LAST 2000hp Diesel, London – Norwich, Progress by INTERCITY with the tour terminating at York having earlier taken the tour to Norwich. On arrival at York D200 was detached from the train and she ran light engine directly to the National Railway Museum where she would become part of the national collection. She wasn’t official withdrawn until two days later at 1510 hours on the 18th April 1988 completing exactly 30 years in BR service.D200 made a number of visits to preserved lines such as The East Lancashire Railway where class mates 40135 and 40145 were kept and owned by the Class Forty Preservation Society and also a visit to the North Yorkshire Moors Railway. Sadly D200 suffered an issue with her main generator bearing which side lined her from running under power and she was placed back at the National Railway Museum in York as a static exhibit. Although presently stored under cover and protected from the elements, this pioneering locomotive has an uncertain operational future? Hopefully the formation of ‘The D200 Group’ will change that future for the better.

OriginsOriginsThe origins of the Class 40 fleet lay in the prototype diesel locomotives (Types D16/1 ordered by the London, Midland and Scottish Railway and British Railways and D16/2 ordered by British Railways between 1947 and 1954) and most notably with the Southern Region locomotive No. 10203, which was powered by English Electric's 16SVT MkII engine developing 2,000 bhp (1,460 kW).The bogie design and power train of 10203 was used almost unchanged on the first ten production Class 40s.

PrototypesBritish Railways originally ordered ten Class 40s, then known as "English Electric Type 4s", as evaluation prototypes They were built at the Vulcan Foundry in Newton-le-Willows, Lancashire.The first locomotive, D200, was delivered to Stratford on 14 March 1958. Following fitter and crew training, D200 made its passenger début on an express train from London Liverpool Street to Norwich on 18 April 1958 Five of the prototypes, Nos. D200, D202-D205, were trialled on similar services on the former Great Eastern routes, whilst the remaining five, Nos. D201, D206-D209, worked on Great Northern services on the East Coast Main Line.

Sir Brian Robertson, chairman of the British Transport Commission, was less than impressed, believing that the locomotives lacked the power to maintain heavy trains at high speed and were too expensive to run in multiple – opinions that were later proved to be correct. Airing his views at the regional boards prompted others to break cover and it was agreed that later orders would be uprated to 2500 hp (a change that was never applied). Direct comparisons on the Great Eastern Main Line showed they offered little advantage over the "Britannia" class steam locomotives, when driven well, and the Eastern Region declined to accept further machines as they deemed them unsuitable to replace the Pacific steam locomotives on the East Coast Main Line preferring to hold on until the "Deltic" Class 55 diesels were delivered.

The London Midland Region was only too pleased as the Eastern Region's decision released additional locomotives to replace their ageing steam fleet, Class 40s managing Camden bank, just north of Euston, with apparent ease. The West Coast Main Line had been starved of investment for many years and the poor track and general lower speeds (when compared to the East Coast route) suited Class 40 as the need to hold trains at speed for long periods simply did not exist and it better exploited their fairly rapid acceleration.

ProductionFollowing the mixed success of the prototypes, another 190 locomotives were ordered by British Railways, and were numbered from D210 to D399. All were built at Vulcan Foundry, except a batch of twenty (Nos. D305–D324) which were built at Robert Stephenson and Hawthorns factory in Darlington. All the locomotives were painted in the British Railways diesel green livery, and the final locomotive, D399, was delivered in September 1962.

Batches of the class were built with significant design differences, due to changes in railway working practices. The first 125 locomotives, Nos. D200–D324, were built with steam-age 'disc' headcode markers, which BR used to identify services. Later, it was decided that locomotives should display the four character train reporting number (or headcode) of the service they were hauling, and Nos. D325–D344 were built with 'split' headcode boxes, which displayed two characters either side of the locomotive's central gangway doors. Another policy decision led to the discontinuing of the gangway doors (which enabled train crew to move between two or three locomotives in multiple). The remaining locomotives, Nos. D345–D399, carried a central four-character headcode box. In 1965, seven of the first batch of locomotives, Nos. D260–D266, which were based in Scotland, were converted to the central headcode design.

From 1973, locomotives were renumbered to suit the TOPS computer operating system, and became known as 'Class 40'. Locomotives D201 to D399 were renumbered in sequence into the range 40 001 to 40 199. The first built locomotive, D200, was renumbered 40 122, which was vacant due to the scrapping of D322 as the result of accident damage.

The named 40sLocomotives in the range D210–D235 were to be named after ships operated by the companies Cunard Line, Elder Dempster Lines, and Canadian Pacific Steamships, as they hauled express trains to Liverpool, the home port of these companies. The only locomotive not to carry a name was D226 which was to carry the name Media but never did so. From approximately 1970, with Class 40s no longer working these trains, the nameplates were gradually removed.

BR ServiceThe Class 40s operated in all areas of British Railways although sightings in the Western and Southern Regions have always been exceptionally rare and usually the result of special trains and/or unusual operational circumstances. After the early trials, the majority were based at depots in northern England, notably Manchester Longsight, Carlisle Kingmoor, Wigan Springs Branch, Thornaby and Gateshead.

The heyday of the class was in the early 1960s, when they hauled top-link expresses on the West Coast Main Line and in East Anglia. However, the arrival of more powerful diesels such as Class 47 and Class 55, together with the electrification of the West Coast Main Line, meant that the fleet was gradually relegated to more mundane duties.

In later life the locomotives were mainly to be found hauling heavy freight and passenger trains in the north of England and Scotland. As more new rolling stock was introduced, their passenger work decreased, partly due to their lack of electric train heating (D255 was fitted with electric train heating for a trial period in the mid-1960s) for newer passenger coaches. They lost their last front-line passenger duties – in Scotland – in 1980, and the last regular use on passenger trains was on the North Wales Coast Line between Holyhead, Crewe and Manchester, along with regular forays across the Pennines on Liverpool to York and Newcastle services.

Throughout the early 1980s Class 40s were common performers on relief, day excursion (adex) and holidaymaker services along with deputisation duties for electric traction, especially on Sundays between Manchester and Birmingham. This resulted in visits to many distant parts of the network. It would be fair to say that few routes in the London Midland and Eastern regions did not see a Class 40 worked passenger service from time to time. Regular destinations included the seaside resorts of Scarborough, Skegness and Cleethorpes on the Eastern region, with Blackpool and Stranraer being regularly visited on the West Coast.

Much rarer workings include visits to London's Paddington and Euston stations, Norwich, Cardiff and even Kyle of Lochalsh. The fact that 40s could turn up almost anywhere resulted in them being followed by a hard core of bashers, enthusiasts dedicated to journeying over lines with rare traction for the route.Also, many Class 40s were not fitted with air braking, leaving them unable to haul more modern freight and passenger vehicles. Despite this, only seventeen had been withdrawn by the start of the 1980s.The locomotives became more popular with railway enthusiasts as their numbers started to dwindle.

DeclineWithdrawals then picked up apace, with the locomotives which lacked air brakes taking the brunt of the decline. In 1981, all 130 remaining locomotives were concentrated in the London Midland region of BR. Classified works overhauls on the Class 40s were also gradually phased out, only 29 members of the class had a full classified in 1980, and the final two emerged resplendent from Crewe Works in 1981. The honour of the very last classified overhaul falls to 40 167 being complete in February 1981.

After that, numbers dwindled slowly until, by the end of 1984, there were only sixteen still running. These included the pioneer locomotive, 40 122, which, having been withdrawn in 1981, was re-instated in July 1983 and painted in the original green livery to haul rail enthusiasts' specials. The last passenger run by a Class 40, apart from 40 122, occurred on 27 January 1985, when 40 012 hauled a train from Birmingham New Street to York. All the remaining locomotives except 40 122 were withdrawn the next day.

The majority of Class 40s were cut up at Crewe, Doncaster, and Swindon works. Crewe works dismantled the most 40s, the totals are listed below.

The other eleven machines were cut at Derby, Glasgow, Inverkeithing, and Vic Berry at Leicester.1981 and 1983 were the worst years for Class 40 withdrawals, a total of 41 being withdrawn both years.The very last Class 40s to be cut up were 40 091 and 40 195 by A. Hampton contractors at Crewe works in December 1988.

Accidents and incidents

On Boxing Day 1962, D215 Aquitania was hauling the Up Mid-Day Scot when it collided with the rear of a Liverpool-Birmingham train. 18 were killed and 34 injured, including the guard. Contrary to popular belief, the infamous D326 was not hauling the train.

On 13 May 1966, a freight train became divided between Norton Junction and Weaver Junction, Cheshire. Locomotive D322, hauling an express passenger train, was in collision with the rear part of the freight train, which had run away. Both driver and secondman were killed.The locomotive was withdrawn September 1967.

On 7 May 1965, a freight train was derailed at Preston-le-Skerne, County Durham. Locomotive No. D350 was hauling a newspaper train that ran into the derailed wagons and was itself derailed. Recovery of the locomotive was not until 16 May.

On 14 August 1966, locomotive No. D311 was hauling a passenger train which was derailed when it ran into a landslip at Sanquhar, Dumfriesshire.

On 6 August 1975, locomotive No. 40 189 was hauling a freight train which was unable to stop due to a lack of brake power. It was in collision with another freight train at Weaver Junction, Cheshire.

On 26 October 1975, an express passenger train failed at Lunan, Angus. Locomotive No. 40 111 was sent to its assistance but ran into the rear of the failed train at 25 miles per hour (40 km/h). One person was killed and eleven were injured.

In September 1978, locomotive No. 40 044 was hauling a freight train that ran away and was derailed by trap points at Chinley, Derbyshire.

D326 The Great Train Robbery 1963D326 (later 40 126) was the most famous Class 40, but for unfortunate reasons. The engine had an early chequered history, she was classed as a jinxed loco by some railwaymen, with some drivers being reluctant to drive it. In 1963 it was involved in the infamous "Great Train Robbery", a year later in August 1964 a secondman was electrocuted when washing the windows. Finally, in August 1965, it suffered total brake failure with a maintenance train at Birmingham New Street and hit the rear of a freight train, injuring the guard. It then settled down and had a normal life until it was scrapped in 1984.

40126 was withdrawn from service on the 15th February 1984. Upon withdrawal the locomotive was offered to the National Railway museum at York as an exhibit loco regarding it's past history, however the NRM declined and she was reduced to a pile of scrap metal at Doncaster Works with indecent haste, no doubt to stop any pillaging souvenir hunters. Other famous "40s" include 40 106, which was the last one to remain in BR green livery, and 40 009, the last 40 to still have vacuum brakes only.

PreservationSeven locomotives and one cab end (40 088) have been preserved on heritage railways, including the first built, number D200, and the Departmental Locomotives, 97 406, 97 407, 97 408.